Most Halo Players Have Never Seen These Easter Eggs

Since 2001, the Halo franchise has long been known for its hyper-detailed and wide-open areas ripe for exploration. However, those who look closely in certain areas or explore beyond the beaten path may find some intriguing, if not entirely bizarre, oddities and unique references across all Halo titles. These Easter eggs have become commonplace in the Halo series and while a few are well-known to most fans, such as Halo 2’s Scarab Gun, Halo 3’s peeing Brute, and Halo: Reach’s Tribute Room, there are still several Easter eggs that most fans have never encountered before. As such, it's worth taking an in-depth look at a few of the hard-to-find or easy-to-miss secrets from across the Halo series.

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Small Halo Easter Eggs from Bungie-era Games

Some of the most common yet relatively unknown Easter eggs in Halo are those that are exceptionally small. These Easter eggs are typically smaller than the smallest pistols found in each game and are often scattered about on the ground or posted on walls, making them easy-to-miss for non-eagle-eyed players. For example, a tiny Easter egg can be found in the beginning of Halo 3: ODST when the Rookie is hurtling down to New Mombasa. If players look to the far left of the drop pod, they will see a picture of the Rookie’s “girlfriend” posted on the pod's interior. In reality, however, this picture is of Bungie engineer and programmer Chris Butcher, edited to look more feminine.

Several other Bungie employees can be found featured in various Halo games in small Easter eggs. For example, Bungie cofounder Jason Jones can be seen in a missing person’s poster on the ground in the Halo 3 campaign level The Storm. Similarly, in Halo 3: ODST, players can find identification badges of several Bungie employees scattered about the streets of New Mombasa, while Jones’ face can additionally be found on the coins dispersed from ODST’s many payphones and other machines. The face of Bungie environmental artist and designer Chris Carney can further be seen hidden among the faraway landscape of Delta Halo in the Halo 2 map Containment, as well as Earth’s moon in the Halo 3 map Standoff.

Small Halo Easter Eggs from 343 Industries-era Games

In the lead-up to Halo 4's late 2012 release, players could have either pre-ordered the base version of the game or a limited edition featuring a gray outer case and steelbook adorned with the post-war UNSC logo as well as several digital codes and a UNSC Infinity Briefing Packet for Spartan-IV Gabriel Thorne. This limited edition of Halo 4 can be seen in-game scattered about the floor of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn in the campaign level Dawn. Similarly, players can also find real-world Halo books throughout the Halo Infinite multiplayer map Bazaar, including Halo: Silent Storm, Halo: Renegades, Halo: Meridian Divide, Halo: Warfleet, Halo: Contact Harvest, and Halo: Escalation. Halo Infinite campaign players can even find an original Xbox in an overhang northeast of FOB Juliet.

Complex Halo Vehicle Easter Eggs

Some of the least encountered Halo Easter eggs are those that are relatively complicated to find or activate within their respective Halo title. For instance, many Halo: Reach players have likely never encountered the Reach Racer Easter egg on the campaign level ONI: Sword Base. To activate this Easter egg, at least two players must begin the level from the beginning and head towards the coastline near Farragut Station’s rightmost glacier and directly across from Airview Base’s tower. On top of boulders at each location, gamers will see icons to open doors and, once activated simultaneously, all players will be teleported back to Sword Base’s main gate to take part in a two-Warthog race around the map.

Similarly, in Halo: Reach’s later level, The Package, taking place in the ruins of Sword Base, players can activate another Easter egg to spawn for Banshees to pilot instead of the Scorpion tank. To begin this Easter egg, players must take a left from the Scorpion and follow the leftmost coastline till they see a button on a boulder. Once activated, they must travel back underneath the flooded ruins of Farragut Station and move a crate to activate another switch. This will cause four Banshees to spawn on top of Farragut Station that can be used throughout the beginning of the level instead of using the Scorpion and other Covenant vehicles.

Halo 5: Guardians’ Kart Race Explained

In Halo 5: Guardians’ campaign level Evacuation, four players can access a “kart” race Easter egg similar to Reach Racer. To activate this Easter egg, all four players must immediately run to the rightmost gate within the first two minutes of the level and stand in front of it for 117 seconds. If these actions are properly completed, each player will then be teleported onto a Mongoose and will be directed to race to the Meridian’s space elevator following a three-second countdown. The player who gets to the space elevator first will receive an M57 Pilum Assault Weapon. Most players have likely missed this Easter egg as it wasn’t discovered until 2021 when Halo YouTubers Ducain23, GamerPeepFreaks, and Rocket Sloth first activated the kart race with assistance from former 343 Industries employee Patrick Wren.

Easter Eggs No Longer Accessible in Halo: MCC

Those who are relatively new to the Halo franchise may have missed out on a few Easter eggs that are no longer accessible in their original forms unless they play the Xbox 360 iterations of certain games. For example, to find Halo 3: ODST’s Siege of Madrigal Easter egg, players must begin the level Kikowani Station on legendary difficulty. After going through the first two gates, players should fly to the rightmost side of the arena until they find a large red access denied sign. If Halo fans land and walk over to the nearby bridge, they’ll find a comedic animation of original Halo series composer Martin O'Donnell dancing to the Siege of Madrigal with winged hearts and bubbles.

However, O'Donnell doesn't appear in Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s version of ODST and is instead replaced with former 343 Industries Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor. The reason for this change is currently unknown, but 343 Industries changed another Easter egg of ODST in Halo: MCC. In the 360 version of ODST, players can find numerous posters in New Mombasa depicting Earth and a white sphere with the words “Destiny Awaits”. This was a reference to Bungie’s then-upcoming game Destiny with the white sphere representing The Traveler. In Halo: MCC, this poster was changed to feature the words “For Her” and the white sphere replaced with an image of the moon instead, to represent a motivational military statement to fight for Earth toward the end of the Human-Covenant War.

Myth: The Fallen Lord’s Siege of Madrigal song can be triggered to play in secret locations in every Halo game developed by Bungie, including Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach.